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It Happens Every Day
Children are struck down by illness and injury. It may begin with a simple cough or an accident. And often it strikes with sudden, unrelenting violence. Thousands of Mississippi children and their families must deal with this reality each year. At the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children, staff members work hard to overcome these obstacles. They cannot do it alone. It takes support from the community to keep the hospital on the cutting edge of contemporary health care.
With the community's help, 1997 was a banner year for Mississippi's children. It was then the doors to the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children opened to begin offering state-of -the-art health care in a state-of-the-art facility. While the original Children's Hospital opened in 1968 and more than 40 pediatric specialists were on staff providing care only available at UMC, the environment and facilities were not ready for 21st century medicine.To meet that need, the new $17 million five-floor Batson Hospital was built atop the Mississippi Children's Cancer Clinic. It has prioritized children's care and placed new emphasis on the special needs of hospitalized children. Included in the 130- bed facility are areas for physical therapy, infant care, treatment rooms, bone marrow transplantation, a pediatric pharmacy, the state's only pediatric intensive care unit as well as patient classrooms and activity rooms.
Why a Children's Hospital?
Children are not miniature adults. They often need the care only a multidisciplinary medical team with a wide range of expertise can provide. These teams can only be found in comprehensive children's hospitals like UMC's. It is here you'll find specialists in cardiology, gastroenterology, oncology, nephrology and more. You'll also find that Children's Hospital works hard to have a child-friendly approach to health care. The staff works to make it a place where "kids can be kids", even though they are sick. Whether they're in the hospital for a short time or an extended stay, they are given the chance to not only heal, but also to play, learn and grow. And there are trained staff who devote time to helping young patients cope with fear and pain. These are the things that make Children's Hospital a special place.The Difference in DoctorsA special hospital for children has pediatric specialists
-- physicians who have completed a residency in general pediatrics and then
have specialized further by learning about one particular body system in
children. 
Pediatric
neurologists treat children with seizure problems and epilepsy. Pediatric
endocrinologists treat children with diabetes and growth hormone deficiencies.
Pediatric cardiologists are experts in diagnosing and treating heart problems
in babies and children. Pediatric pulmonary specialists treat asthma and
cystic fibrosis. Pediatric hematologists and oncologists treat cancer, sickle
cell anemia, hemophilia and other blood disorders. Pediatric gastroenterologists
specialize in feeding disorders. Pediatric allergists treat disorders of
the immune system and, more commonly, childhood allergies. Pediatric infectious
disease specialists treat both contagious and minor infections, ranging from
chicken pox to AIDS. Rehabilitation specialists direct therapy for disabled
children. Pediatric surgeons correct congenital defects, repair injuries
from trauma and perform organ transplants in children. The Batson Hospital for Children has all these specialists
and more. Geneticists are available for prenatal diagnosis and counseling.
Neonatologists take care of newborns when they struggle for life in the hospital’s
newborn intensive care unit because they’ve been born much too early
or gravely ill. Other physician specialists treat and evaluate children whose
development is delayed or who have problems in school because of learning
disabilities. Tailor-made
All
the equipment in the Batson Hospital must be scaled down and modified to
meet the needs of children. Surgical tools, x-ray machines, IV poles and
wheelchairs are all child size. Patients in the Batson Hospital have access
to the same modern treatment and diagnostic procedures they would have in
any major treatment center in the United States -- magnetic resonance imaging,
computerized tomography, bi-plane angiography.The Batson Hospital has its own school with fully certified teachers
to help patients maintain their grade level despite being away from their
schools during the regular school year. Activity rooms staffed by child life
specialists are open daily for patient use. The child life staff also helps
patients cope with fears or concerns about medical and surgical procedures.The Mississippi Children’s Cancer Clinic, made possible
by a Junior League of Jackson fundraising drive, opened in 1991. The state’s
only Ronald McDonald House, where families of patients in Children’s
Hospital find a "home away from home," was built on the UMC campus
in 1989 following a statewide grassroots fundraising effort. One-of-a-kind ServicesMost of the treatment programs at Children’s Hospital are available
nowhere else in Mississippi. The state’s only children’s cancer
program, the state’s only comprehensive treatment for cystic fibrosis,
and the state’s
only
epilepsy center are found at UMC. The newborn intensive care unit, now housed
in the Winfred L. Wiser Hospital for Women & Infants, offers the highest
level of care available to sick and premature babies according to the standards
set by the March of Dimes and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Children’s
Rehabilitation Center offers a full range of services from evaluation to
therapy for children with physical and mental disabilities. Children’s
Hospital is the state center for the correction of life threatening congenital
heart defects. A Resource for MississippiChildren’s Hospital averaged 9,000 admissions last
year, and more than 80,000 youngsters were treated in its clinics and emergency
room. They came from all of Mississippi’s 82 counties. They came as
the victims of serious trauma or with life threatening or chronic illnesses
- cancer, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, congenital heart
defects and many others. Their illnesses were diverse, but they had this
in common: they were all children, not just tiny replicas of adults, and
they all needed the care that only the Batson Hospital could give. They needed
the clinics, the machines, the instruments tailor made for them, and the
people specially trained to care for them. Building for the Future
Since
the Batson Hospital opened, UMC has continued to look at the health care
needs of its youngest patients. Currently, both adult and pediatric patients
go through the surgery process in the same area. This can be a difficult
situation because families often are not able to be with their children.
Space limitations prohibit it. With an increasing number of surgeries occurring
at UMC daily, it has become difficult for patients in need of elective surgery
to schedule these at convenient times. Often weeks pass before a surgical
room is available. UMC has realized this is not the ideal situation and plans
are underway to provide a surgical area dedicated solely to the needs of
children. This new area will be built on top of the Children's Hospital
and will house a state-of-the-art pediatric surgical facility. It will make
it possible for families to be at their child's bedside before and after
surgery. The new addition will cost approximately $8 million. Funds for the
new floors will be raised through Children's Miracle Network, Friends of
Children's Hospital, alumni and other Children's Hospital supporters. For
more information about this project, contact the CMN Coordinator. You Can Help Mississippi’s Children
As a member-hospital of the Children's Miracle Network, the Blair
E. Batson Hospital for Childen participates each year in the Children's Miracle
Celebration, a nationally televised fundraiser. CMN raises nearly $250 million
a year for 170 children's hospitals across North America with 100% of what
is raised staying in the communities where the money is given. Since UMC
began participating in 1985, nearly $6 million has been raised to help Mississippi's
sick and injured youngsters.
If you'd like to make a contribution or a gift in memory of a loved one, your gift can be mailed directly to: Public Affairs, the University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39216. You may also e-mail the CMN Coordinator or call UMC's Division of Public Affairs at 601-984-1000 for additional information about Children's Hospital.
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